How to setup ADB on Mac – Guide

Want to setup ADB on a Mac? This tutorial will help you. This guide does not require the full Android SDK installation on your Mac to use Android Debug Bridge (ADB), you just have to install the required files and you are good to go.

STEP 2: Extract the downloaded ZIP to a folder/directory that you can easily locate.

STEP 3: While you can start using ADB right away, but you will have to navigate to the folder that you created by unzipping the ADB files, to use ADB. So, we will make an entry in ~/.bash_profile configuration files to make ADB accessible from terminal normally from anywhere.

STEP 4: Open Terminal on your mac and type the following command

nano ~/.bash_profile

STEP 5: The above command will open a file in a text editor, now add the following line in the end of that file.

export PATH=${PATH}:your_sdk_dir

your_sdk_dir is the path to folder that you created in STEP 2. It will be something like Users/George/platform-tools

Image Credit: tjrocks91

STEP 6: Save the file and type the following command

source ~/.bash_profile

STEP 7: Now, quit Terminal

STEP 8: Optional: You can install PDAnet by downloading from here; it installs the drivers for popular Android device manufacturers or you can individually download and install drivers for your phone/tablet manufacturer by going to their official website.

Before you connect your Android device to Mac, make your to turn on USB Debugging by going to Setting>Applications>Development on your tablet/phone.

And you are done. Connect your device and type adb devices in terminal. It should show your device in the list. If this somehow does not work for you, here is another link to an alternate guide.